In the beginning was the Great Goddess, and the Goddess was the Earth, and the Earth was the Goddess.
The origins of the cult of the Great Goddess lie hidden in the dim twilight of prehistoric time. The Goddess ruled for hundreds of thousands of years. In the course of time, the Mother-Goddess was overthrown and driven under, and the triumph of the most patriarchal of archetypes – Jahwe, God the Father, Allah – was complete in the Judaic, Christian and Moslem worlds. It was only in the tamed form of Mary, Mother of God, that some aspects of the Mother Goddess were permitted to survive. Various Black Madonnas in ancient sanctuaries still bear witness to her.
The figure of Lilith represents one aspect of the Great Goddess. In ancient Babylon, she was worshipped as Lilitu, Ischtar or Lamaschtu. Jewish mythology already puts her into darker realms – an evil Demon of the night, a fitting mate for Satan, lying in wait for men, and killing children.